CAPEC-617
Cellular Rogue Base Station
In this attack scenario, the attacker imitates a cellular base station with their own "rogue" base station equipment. Since cellular devices connect to whatever station has the strongest signal, the attacker can easily convince a targeted cellular device (e.g. the retransmission device) to talk to the rogue base station.
Ask an AI about this attack pattern
Show the prompt
Explain the attack pattern CAPEC-617: Cellular Rogue Base Station: how it unfolds, what it needs and how to prevent and detect it in my systems. Use https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/617.html and https://cve.bz/cve/capec/617?via=ask-ai-copy, which lists recent CVEs with the weaknesses it exploits. Cite the sources.Opens a third-party assistant; its answer is its own, not cve.bz's. The prompt holds only this attack pattern's id and public links.
Prerequisites
None
Skills required
- Low skill
This technique has been demonstrated by amateur hackers and commercial tools and open source projects are available to automate the attack.
Consequences
| Impact | Affects | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Read Data | Confidentiality | Intercept and control cellular data communications to/from mobile device. |
Mitigations
Passively monitor cellular network connection for real-time threat detection and logging for manual review.
Related attack patterns
- Part of
- CAPEC-616 Establish Rogue Location
MITRE's words, unchanged: CAPEC-617 at MITRE. CAPEC is Copyright © 2007–2026, The MITRE Corporation, used under the CAPEC terms of use: “The MITRE Corporation (MITRE) hereby grants you a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC™) for research, development, and commercial purposes. Any copy you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you reproduce MITRE’s copyright designation and this license in any such copy.” CAPEC and the CAPEC logo are trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. Credits. All attack patterns.